Tag: 9.5.19

Check Out the New CI Podcast and Meet Manufacturers, Educators and Influencers from around the Hudson Valley

Post: Sep. 5, 2019

 

In an effort to expand our reach and spread the word about manufacturing in the region, The Council of Industry is launching a podcast. We’ve been working behind the scenes to bring our members and the community an inside look into the people of Hudson Valley manufacturing.

The podcast space has grown expansively in the US with over 40% increase in awareness since 2017. According to Edison Research, 62 million Americans have listened to podcasts in the past week.

Our mission is to support our members and promote their success.  One important way we do that is to help people get to know all about manufacturing in the Hudson Valley; the companies, the products, the technologies, and the people – as well as its economic importance to the region.  As technology evolves, opportunities to communicate that message change. In the 1930s, we introduced the CI newsletter, followed by www.councilofindustry.org in 1991, and the introduction of HV MFG, The Council of Industry’s Magazine, in 2013. Over the last few years, we added a K-12 outreach resource www.gomakeit.org, expanded our YouTube Channel and formed a 501(c)3, (Hudson Valley Manufacturing Workforce Center); simultaneously weaving our message with the purpose of increasing awareness and promoting the success of our members.

The staff at CI already get to talk to fascinating, impactful people daily – now we can share those stories. Adding the podcast medium will help us broaden our reach and help us share insights, best practices and hopefully some laughs, with a wider audience.  Perhaps the podcast will help bring the already supportive manufacturing community even closer together.

Here’s a Taste of What’s to Come:

Episode 1:  Bruce and Aaron Phipps, MPI
Aaron and Bruce share details about what it is like to grow up in a family-owned business and now work together as contemporaries tackling the challenges and celebrating the successes with their MPI family. Aaron is heavily involved at SUNY New Paltz on their advisory board and mentoring interns. They speak about the importance of engagement at that level, training and building the next generation of workforce. Aaron and Bruce are fun to talk to and we’re thankful they agreed to be our tester podcast.

Episode 2: Aaron Hopmayer, Principal, Pine Bush High School
Aaron Hopmayer, affectionately known as “HOP” is top-notch. We talked with Aaron and Kenny Marshall about their success in integrating STEAM into all disciplines, the booming enrollment in their summer enrichment academies (including their newest summer academy for Advanced Manufacturing). Hop shares his experience overcoming obstacles, building engagement and generally doing whatever it takes because “its good for kids”.  Big shout out to Kenny Marshall, STEAM Coach for helping us work through the podcast flow and his patience for working with Harold and me, amateurs that we are. Kenny is a transformational teacher and coach; he was also one of our 2018 Manufacturing Champions. I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of Kenny in our podcast world.

Episode 3: Julian Stauffer, PTI
We truly enjoyed talking with Julian. He talked about his family history and the changes in leadership over the last several decades. He shared some insight about the importance of an adaptable, diverse workplace and what’s ahead for this growing company in Westchester. Julian and his brother Oliver are gracious hosts and the epitome of leadership in advanced manufacturing. We barely scratched the surface in this podcast, I look forward to chatting with Julian, and Oliver again in the near future.

Episode 4: Joe & Jimmy Ferrara and Stephanie Melick, ELNA Magnetics
Not only were we able to chat with Joe, Jimmy and Steph in episode 4, they are also going to be featured in our upcoming edition of HV Mfg. Magazine. We laughed a little too much while preparing for this podcast and then worked out our jitters together. We talked about the culture at Elna, their efforts to tackle workforce development challenges and the future of the business. This was a fun conversation – hopefully, some of the content actually makes it to the ‘podcast’.

Still to come:

Jenny Clark, Global Foundries
Gretchen Zierick, Zierick’s 100-year anniversary
Meaghan Taylor, Regional Director, Empire State Development

This podcast launches in conjunction with other CI activities including our latest video featuring an Electro-Mechanical Technician Apprentice, Forrest (sponsored by Tompkins Mahopac Bank) and the upcoming edition of the HV Mfg Magazine due out in October.

We are always looking for great content; if you are interested in joining us for a podcast episode or know someone who is particularly interesting, please reach out to jhansen@councilofindustry.org.

A Beautiful Day for Golf

Post: Sep. 4, 2019

The weather was perfect this year for the Council of Industry annual Golf Outing. The event hosted 90 golfers from manufacturing companies and their associates at the beautiful historic Powelton Club in Newburgh. The event featured a lunch sponsored by Viking Industries and Cocktails followed by a light dinner sponsored by Packaging Technologies & Inspection (PTI).
This year there was a new option, we offered a scramble game for those who didn’t want the pressure of playing their own ball or preferred to avoid the ‘yellow ball’ stress. Of course, best-ball and yellow ball were also still options as well. Prizes for the games were made possible by the following sponsors: Closest to Pin – Pratt Whitney; Longest Drive – Elna Magnetics; Best Ball – Allendale Machinery, Yellow Ball – Package Pavement Co.

Participants received golf shirts with the CI logo donated by Direct Energy and there was a Hole-in-One, that a couple of people came close to winning, sponsored by Belfor Property Restoration. We would also like to thank all of our tee sponsors: Pratt Whitney; The Chazen Companies; Bleakley Platt & Schmidt, LLP; President Container Group; E.A. Morse; Bell Flavors & Fragrances; Barton and Loguidice, D.P.C.; Schatz Bearing Corp.; Orange Bank & Trust Company; Pawling Engineered Products; Central Hudson; Ethan Allen Workforce Solutions; Metallized Carbon Corp.; Harris Beach PLLC; Eastern Alloys, Inc.; JGS CPAs; TD Bank; and Ulster Savings Bank.

Winners of the best ball contest were: Mark Kastner, The Chazen Companies; Tom Gaffney, AFF Flanders; Ron Aberizk, Direct Energy Business; Al Lussier, Direct Energy Business. Winners of the yellow ball competition were: John Rickert, Craig Busby, JP Cheneski, and Chuck DelPriore of Pawling Engineered Products. Winners of the scramble were: Dylan Dembeck, Tom Weddell, Jarred Kaufman, Steven Drobysh from the Ulster Savings Bank foursome. Other winners were – woman’s longest drive: Stephanie Melick, Elna Magnetics; men’s longest drive: John Evans, Belfor Property Restoration; women’s Closest to the pin: Alicia Zito, Bell Flavors & Fragrances, Inc.

What’s the Purpose of a Public Company?

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The Business Roundtable, a group representing the nation’s most powerful chief executives, last month abandoned the idea that companies must maximize profits for shareholders above all else, a long-held belief that advocates said boosted the returns of capitalism but detractors blamed for rising inequality and other social ills.

The new statement reads:  “Americans deserve an economy that allows each person to succeed through hard work and creativity and to lead a life of meaning and dignity.  We commit to deliver value to all of them, for the future success of our companies, our communities and our country.”  The Business Roundtable represents the CEO’s of 192 large companies and is chaired by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. 

That statement is far from Milton Friedman’s famous 1970 New York Times Op-Ed where he declared “the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.” And “in a free-enterprise, private-property system, a corporate executive is an employee of the owners of the business. He has direct responsibility to his employers. That responsibility is to conduct the business in accordance with their desires…the key point is that, in his capacity as a corporate executive, the manager is the agent of the individuals who own the corporation…and his primary responsibility is to them.”

For small, privately held, businesses the idea of a company’s purpose is not complicated – it is whatever the owner says it is.  But in publicly traded companies that are owned by thousands of shareholders and governed by boards of directors, this is a question worth examining. 

While many praised the CEOs for their foresighted humanitarianism, others worry they have accelerated the demise of capitalism itself. In What Companies Are For, The Economist (subscription required) offers a historical perspective on the issues and has an interesting take, arguing that “…this new form of collective capitalism will end up doing more harm than good. It risks entrenching a class of unaccountable CEOs who lack legitimacy. And it is a threat to the dynamism that is the source of long-term prosperity—the basic condition for capitalism to succeed.”